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Hmmmmm..... What to do???

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Right, well after my initial post I've taken the plunge and should be having my A+ book (the Meyers one) arrive tomorrow ready for my self study

Now i'm unsure what to do about where I work currently, as I do some IT in my job but not as much as I'd like and my employers are concerned at how much time it takes me away from my 'core' job (boring!). My plan was to find some work closer to home while studying (whether IT related or not) and then go full force applying for my ideal career in IT. However, my employers are now saying that they would be willing to pay either part or all of my exam fees for the A+ under the umbrella of staff development. I haven't actually told them I was looking to leave either.....

So pros and cons of staying put for the time being:

Pros
- Get my exams paid for with the A+
- Great people to work with and a relaxed office environment

Cons
- Quite a commute to work which seems to get worse by the week
- Don't do as much IT as I'd like and it looks like they are going to put some of that side of my job on hold (I'm the local infrastructure manager usually among other things)
- Trying to do the work of two people in the hours of one (hence why they want me to drop the IT)

I'm holding onto the IT side as much as I can as it's the part I enjoy so have managed to agree to a complete break from IT problem solving for two weeks while I catch up and concentrate on the rest of my job - which is what I was employed for in the first place. Then after the two weeks we're going to re-evaluate and hopefully i'll be back to my usual tinkering with things as well as the rest of my work! The other problem they have is that there isn't anyone else who can cover the LIM role, I'm the only one who has the experience...

Anyway, just wondered what everyone else thought? Any ideas/thoughts/musings??

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Wow, difficult one. I can see why you posted here for advice.

If it was me in your situation I would probably stick it out. You know the ins and outs of the job you are doing, its a steady income and you seem to like the place where you work.
Whilst studying an A+ it is good to be able to hands on the knowledge you gain from reading the book in the place where you work, and whilst at another employer you may be involved in more IT related work will it be relevant to your studies? On the other hand as it sounds like you may have more freedom where you are to tinker with IT related things you may be able to study/play/implement things you learn as you learn them.

I have worked with a few people who have got in to IT in a similar way that you seem to be getting in to it (but without the studying part you are doing) and it is a very good way to start out. You never know you could end up doing IT solely in the future for that company, or they bring in a new IT person at which point you can start looking around and use the fact you were doing the IT work as well in your applications.

I would say the benefits of steady employment with a good working environment would be more beneficial to studying (and if they pay for it too) whereas studying and learning a new role somewhere else may end up in the studying being put aside (happened to me once before)

Well thats my opinion, other may agree or disagree and maybe there is something useful or you haven't thought about.

In the short term and taking the current economic climate into account I'd say at least see what happens in two weeks when they "review". They may be thinking of something they can offer you; if not, well you've only lost a couple of weeks and it doesn't stop you searching to see what jobs are around.

There's no harm in taking them up on their offer and looking for alternative employment, unless they are writing it into some sort of contract that you stay as they have paid for your exams.

Ask your employers if you can get more experience IT wise and less of the boring parts, this will help with study as you will get more experience.

I work weird hours sometimes I am working in the day sometimes at night, sometimes a mixture of both, I studied during my quiet periods and when I got home and quite often in bed, I was doing maybe 1 - 2 hours a day study if yo u can put in more than this knocking out the A+ won't take long.

You could do with learning this subject thoroughly,especially as you are going onto the mcdst next [which is what i'm doing just now] and there are questions in the A+ all about windows xp.

The mcdst and the a+ tie into each other at times,and cover the exact same subjects sporadicly,though it's a more difficult qualification than A+ in my view.

Everyone's set time to learn the A+ is different,college give you 100 hours,but i probably done another 100 hours on top of that for homework.I had nearly a decade of experience before i began the A+ ,so i shouldn't really have needed 200 hours,i just wanted to be thorough,and the A+ subjects were enjoyable.

Strangely the mcdst is only 50 hours and hardly any homework.The books are fairly thin mind you in comparison to an A+ study book.

I would keep the job and accept the free exams.You are unlikley to move into a top IT job with just your A+ qualification.

Hi Amanda, my 2 cents would be to stay at the current job and try to keep doing as much IT work as you can in order to keep gaining experience. Keep doing your normal job to a high standard but pester whoever needs pestering in order to keep a finger in the IT pie. Maybe you could even suggest job sharing or something like that so you can spend more time in I.T. Remember you dont get if you dont ask and if people say no, your still in the same position

Do your A+ (I would recommend booking the exam now to help motivate yourself) and hopefully you can try out some of the stuff you are learning at work. Buy the parts to build a computer if you can afford it and learn how to pull it apart and put it back together....maybe even grab an old one (or 2) from work if you can. Get your hands on a small switch and learn some networking while your at it

In the meantime keep an eye on the job adverts just in case something comes along and maybe have an up to date CV to hand. The job market isnt the best at the moment but you want to be prepared if something comes along.

At the end of the day an A+ with a bit of practical experience is much better then an A+ with none.

Personally, I would stay with your current employer. Its definitley a positive that they are now willing to pay for your exams - they obviously value you as an employee. Plus at least you are able to get some experience of working within IT and that can prove so valuable.

If you change jobs there is no guarantee that you will be able to get something within IT. Also changing jobs can be quite stressful which may affect your studying.

You could always re-evaluate the situation in a couple of months when you will have had chance to get into the A+ and assess how things are going at work

HI Amanda,
I have worked in IT recuitment a long time (the dark side) but moved over to proper IT now

It is hard to get a job in IT with only qualifications or experience.
The trick is to attain both.
You are in the unique situation that not only can you get your training and exam fees paid for free, you also get to put experienced on your CV! Trust me that's a biggie!
You may have to "dress up" your IT involvement a bit but hand on experience with hardware etc.. is gold!

See my other recent replies to questions for advise on New to IT advice if you like!

Thanks to all of you for your comments - I've been chatting to various people and everyone seems to be of a similar opinion. I think it started as I was having a bad time with a few things at work but had a chat with my manager today and we've hopefully sorted out my workload so things should improve. As for the IT I think i'm going to have to tread carefully and show that my involvement isn't affecting the rest of my work but over the past couple of years I've managed to get more responsibility and more involved.

There was a time when we weren't allowed to even open the back of a computer to take a look!! Until one day I was fed up of waiting for an engineer to come just to install some RAM so did it myself..... I'd managed to get access to the remote desktop software too earlier this year so I'm able to help some of the staff at our outstations without long conversations as to what they see on screen, what they've tried, etc -- i'm sure you all know what I mean. So I think you're all right that I need to gain as much experience from my current job as possible so i'll have to see how much more involved I can get. I've also got a lot more involved in GIS/ArcEditor software for those of you that might know it and I'm hoping to learn as much as I can about that too.

Well the A+ book arrived today, so I can make a start on reading up. I'm nicking my old computer back off my sister as she got herself a laptop and my old one is sitting on her bedroom floor. So I have an XP computer I can play with too now without worrying about breaking it!!

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